Jaqua, De Rosario give Houston chance to defend MLS Cup title

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11/11/2007 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - All season long, one of the Kansas City Wizards' biggest weaknesses was its inability to stop opponents from scoring on corner kicks, giving up seven goals from the corner in the regular season.

All season long, one of Houston's biggest strengths was its ability to score on set plays, with Brian Ching and Nate Jaqua monsters in the air and Brad Davis and Richard Mulrooney excelling on services from the wings.

That strength against weakness match-up would come into play in the Major League Soccer Western Conference final Saturday night at Robertson Stadium as the Dynamo used a Nate Jaqua header on a corner kick to jump to a first-half lead en route to a 2-0 victory.

Dwayne De Rosario would score an insurance goal nine minutes from time with his fourth career playoff goal to propel the defending champs to their second- straight MLS title game against the New England Revolution.

The loss ends the Wizards' playoff run in which they knocked off the Western bracket's top seed, Chivas USA, after sneaking into the playoffs in the last weekend of the regular season as the last seed. The Wizards didn't allow a goal in this year's playoffs until Jaqua's header in the 35th minute Saturday night.

The game started with the Dynamo dominating the visitors, which stretched all the way through the first half.

Houston forced Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman - the league's all-time playoff leader in games started, minutes played, wins, losses, and saves - to make his first save just five minutes into the match after a Davis corner kick from the left side was put on goal. With the veteran 'keeper coming out to challenge a header, the ball curled back toward the goal, forcing Hartman to reach back and knock the ball away.

The Wizards got their lone shot of the first half about seven minutes later after a free kick from outside the left side of the box. With the free kick curled into the box, Eddie Johnson volleyed a shot from 12-yards out just wide right.

Houston midfielder De Rosario returned the favor a minute later by volleying a shot from 20-yards out wide of an open Wizards' goal.

Houston continued to put pressure on Hartman about five minutes later when Jaqua one-timed a Wade Barrett cross just wide before forward Brian Ching half-volleyed an open shot from the top of the box wide left.

Ching had another chance at the half-hour mark after a cross into the box found his foot after the defense thwarted a diving header attempt by Jaqua. Ching cut back and fired with his left, but it went just wide of the left post and out of bounds.

Hartman dove to his right to knock a hard, low De Rosario shot out of bounds in the 34th, but Jaqua skied to head home the Mulrooney corner kick that ensued to give the defending champs the 1-0 lead.

The Dynamo continued to dominate the Wizards through the first half, out-shooting them 9-1 while forcing Hartman to make three saves before the break.

Carlos Marinelli came in to start the second half in the midfield for Kerry Zavagnin in an effort to gain more possession. It almost paid off in the first minute after the break when a Jack Jewsbury a blast hit the outside of the side netting, doubling the visitors' shot total.

Houston almost doubled the lead two minutes later on another corner kick. Davis took the kick from the left side, but K.C. cleared after a scramble in the six-yard box almost saw Jaqua knock home his second goal of the game.

Davis created a chance in the 69th minute after a second effort to get past defender Nick Garcia on the left side near the byline. He played a cross into the box in the direction of Ching, but Wizards' captain Jimmy Conrad knocked him out of the way before Hartman knocked the ball down and covered with no damage.

Ching left the game after the play after reportedly hearing a pop in his left calf. Joseph Ngwenya came in to replace him with 20 minutes to play.

Defender Craig Waibel played a long diagonal ball from midfield to De Rosario on the left side of the offensive third before the Canadian international took one touch and blasted a left-footed laser just inside the near post, past Hartman for the 2-0 lead with 10 minutes to play.

The Dynamo put it in lockdown the rest of the way, slowing the pace down and shutting the Kansas City attack out without a shot on goal the entire game.

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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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